Asian Journal of Education and Social Studies

30(2): 75-87, 2022; Article no.AJESS.87302

ISSN: 2581-6268

Overcrowded Classrooms: Effect on Teaching and

Learning Process in Public Secondary Schools in
Ilemela Municipality, Tanzania
Laurian C. Likuru a and Prospery M. Mwila a*
a
St Augustine University of Tanzania, Tanzania.

Authors’ contributions

This work was carried out in collaboration between both authors. Both authors read and approved the
final manuscript.

Article Information
DOI: 10.9734/AJESS/2022/v30i230744

Open Peer Review History:

This journal follows the Advanced Open Peer Review policy. Identity of the Reviewers, Editor(s) and additional Reviewers, peer
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Received 15 January 2022

Original Research Article Accepted 22 June 2022
Published 24 June 2022

ABSTRACT

With parents, teachers, and policymakers, reducing class size is a favoured education policy
approach. Cursory studies had suggested that overcrowded classroom results in relatively modest
in students’ academic achievement. Underpinned by the Social Cognitive Theory, this study
assessed how overcrowded classrooms affect the teaching and learning process in Ilemela
Municipality, Mwanza -Tanzania. The study adopted a mixed research approach and convergent
parallel research design. The sample consisted of 110 respondents including 1 MSEO, 1 Quality
Assurance, 8 heads of school 40 teachers and 60 students. Structured questionnaires and
interview guide were used as research instruments. Data were analysed through descriptive
statistics and thematic analysis. The synthesis of the findings revealed that classrooms in Ilemela
municipality are overcrowded –against the access bargain of 45 students per class; students
exceeded 90 within a single stream. On the basis of the findings it was concluded that overcrowded
classrooms has an effect on the teaching and learning process, since it limits the application and
implementation of competence based curriculum and supportive classroom management practices
which aid effectiveness of teaching and learning process. The study recommends that there is a
need to enforce the policy on classroom size and to construct more classroom school so as to
remedy the situation.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

*Corresponding author: Email: bapropsk@gmail.com;

 Likuru and Mwila; AJESS, 30(2): 75-87, 2022; Article no.AJESS.87302
Keywords: Overcrowded; effect of; classroom; teaching and learning; public secondary schools;
Ilemela Municipality; Tanzania
1. INTRODUCTION
One of the fundamental issues underpinning the
education sector in Tanzania is how to increase
and promote access to and equity of education in
the society without compromising quality. This
has been a key policy priority in the country since
the introduction of the Education and Training
Policy of 1995 revised in 2014. Ever since, the
country has made a significant progress in
pursuing its national goals within the context of
the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and
Education for All goals (EFA) as enshrined in the
Education Sector Development Plan (ESDP
2016/2017 – 2021/2022). One of the essential
issues in this Plan was how to increase and
promote access to and equity of education in the
society, URT, (2018). Thus, the government
introduced Fee Free basic education from pre-
primary to form four with the sole purpose of
ensuring that children attained education as the
basic right and that no child is left behind in
education.
The implementation of the Fee Free basic
education policy is said to have positively
influenced the enrolment rates of learners from
primary to secondary schools. According to
bridged MOEVT & PO – RALG, (2018) statistics,
overall enrolment increased from 401,598 in
2004 to 1,767,890 in 2017, equal to a total
increase of 340.2 per cent. An average
enrolment increased at the rate of 26.24 percent
per year over the period of fourteen years (2004
– 2017).The government of Tanzania is working
hard to curb this situation, by expanding school
infrastructure like classrooms, but the number of
students is increasing every year. The increase
in enrolment rate in secondary school education
in the country is against the limited school
infrastructure like classrooms, and thus leading
to overcrowded classrooms.
A classroom is said to be overcrowded when the
number of students exceeds the optimum level
such that it causes hindrance in the teaching and
learning process [1]. Matshipi et al, further argue
that some of the causes of overcrowded classes
are having one school serving big community;
the Department of Basic Education take long to
build classrooms or to repair the classes that are
damaged, the shortage of teaching staff and
principals who are looking to increase the
enrolment of their school. Similarly, Epri, [2]
76
maintains that large classes are an issue
especially for town schools. A combination of an
increasing population and the implementation of
the national policy have caused the increase of
students’ enrolment against poor and limited
school infrastructure, and thus impacting the
quality of education.
According to UNESCO [3], poor infrastructure
leading to overcrowded classrooms had been
identified as important barriers for schooling and
learning in most countries in Africa. This is
supported by a good number of scholarly writings
[4,5], (West, 2020, etc) which have all pointed
out that teaching in an overcrowded classroom
can cause problems; serious problem is rampant
noise, and less individualized focus, discipline
issues, struggling students fall behind and lack of
personal connection. Hacham, [5] contended that
a crowded classroom may provide challenges
that can be nearly impossible to find a solution to
or even to overcome. These are just, but few
sociological problems- not to mention other
impacts to health and related issues. For Jones,
[4], overcrowded classroom condition not only
make it difficult for students to concentrate on
their lesson, but inevitably limit the amount of
time teachers can spend on innovative teaching
methods such as cooperative learning and group
work. According to West, (2020) the South
African education system is characterised by a
shortage of teachers and in adequate school
infrastructure which is contributing to the
overcrowded nature of South African classrooms.
This led to poor learning conditions because of
the lack of space, fresh air and high noise levels
that could lead to a lack of attention and even
create stress within learners.
Literature also indicates that overcrowded is not
only a factor to the teaching and learning process
but also to teachers’ welfare and quality
education [6]. Overcrowded classrooms is said to
violate the right of teachers to just compensation
and human working conditions, as reported by
the Republic of Philippines [7] under the Act, The
Public-School Class Size Law of 2016 (House
Bill 473). It was observed that a teacher handling
a class of 70 students is in fact taking the
workload of two teachers. Jones, [4] contends
that teachers in congested classrooms are
generally over – stretched more likely to suffer
from burnout, or have a more strained
relationship with their students- a situation
 Likuru and Mwila; AJESS, 30(2): 75-87, 2022; Article no.AJESS.87302
reported to be common in developing world as
while. Meador, [8] suggests that teachers in
overcrowded classroom must be exceptionally
organized well prepared every day and should be
creating energetic and engaging lessons. Every
lesson must be enticing, energetic and fun.
Derrick (2019) also posits that teachers in an
overcrowded must develop fluid system through
trial and error to maximize the time they have
with their students. According to Derrick,
teachers can generate solutions for overcrowded
classrooms by: -
1. Creating energetic and engaging lesson:
Lesson must be enticing, energetic and
fun. Teachers should prepare lesson which
are fast – paced, unique and full of
attention. Under this point, researchers did
not clarify the uniqueness of lesson
whether in terms of teaching strategies or
content of the subject matter. So that the
lesson can attract students and lead to
discipline control and classroom
management.
2. Tutoring struggling students who need
more time after school: This involves
teaching students after class hours. A
teacher should find time two or three times
a week after school by giving students
techniques on how to be successful in
academics.
3. Understanding that the dynamics in an
overcrowded classroom will be different:
Teachers should understand that there is
difference in teaching between a 40
students’ class and that of 70 or 90
students. Teachers have no control over
how many students are in their classes. In
public secondary schools, the government
have the mandate to enrol students and
not teachers. The teachers cannot allow
themselves to become stressed due to
beyond their control. Instead they should
use their teaching profession to ensure
learners attain relevant education (Derrick,
2019: 89).
URT [9], has also observed that school materials
and school infrastructure is important in order to
improve the quality of education. It understands
that the scarcity of school and classroom
facilities remain a problem in public secondary
schools, and thus compromising the teaching
and learning process. This adduced evidence by
URT is supported by Akech [10] who reported
that noise making, failure to attended each
students’ needs, restriction of teachers’
77
movement in the class, cheating in examinations,
wastage of time, setting order in the class,
difficult in marking and both teachers and
students being stressed are the impact resulting
from over crowdedness in classrooms.
This scenario is not different from Mwanza
region, particularly in Ilemela Municipality, where
enrolment rate in ordinary level of education
(Form I-IV) is said to have increased at an
accelerating rate -in the year 2005 (22.0%), in
2006 (29.0%) and 2007 (53.0%) and again in
2016 (1.7%) and 2017 (5.5%) (URT, 2018). The
rapid increase in enrolment rate in the
Municipality may as well be attributed to the
government focus on secondary education
during those years, including the policy of
building secondary schools at the Ward level,
supported by SEDEP I and II and the Fee Free
education policy (URT,2018). Statistics from the
Ilemela Municipal Primary School Education
Officer (MPEO) showed that, there are 104
primary schools in Ilemela Municipality. This
includes 75 public primary schools and 29 private
primary schools. These are compared to only 26
public secondary schools in Ilemela Municipality,
the revealed data indicated, there was high
enrolment of students in secondary schools
against few number of secondary schools in the
Municipality.
This scenario has raised a major concern to
educational stakeholders and system
administrators such as officials from the Ministry
of Education, Science and Technology (MOEST).
Either too, this scenario has also raised alarm
among curriculum developers and implementers
and policymakers, and thus have been calling
upon well-established empirical evidence to
delve into the relationship between overcrowded
classroom and teaching and learning process,
and in particular, the effectiveness of the
teaching and learning process in overcrowded
classroom, So as to bridge the knowledge gap.
Therefore, this study assessed the effect of
overcrowded classroom on teaching and learning
process in secondary schools in Ilemela
Municipality.
This study limited itself to both input and process
indicators such as the number of students in the
classroom, application of teaching strategies,
and students’ classroom monitoring/supervision.
Conceived within the context of the theoretical
framework of Social Cognitive Theory and
Approach by Bandura [11]; inputs, process
effectiveness and quality assurance are crucial
 Likuru and Mwila; AJESS, 30(2): 75-87, 2022; Article no.AJESS.87302
elements propelling any programme or
institutional effectiveness and efficiency (Mullins,
2002). According to Thesaurus Dictionary
(Visited on 19st December, 2021), process
effectiveness entwines validity and reliability of
procedures, succeeding courses of actions
depending on sound policy frameworks and
progressive guidelines – depicting practical
methodologies to enable goal and mission
realisation, as well as vision focus [12].
1.1 Study Objectives
The study was guided by the following research
objectives:
1. To assess the availability of school
infrastructure in public secondary schools
in Ilemela Municipality.
2. To describe the number of students per
class in public secondary schools in
Ilemela Municipality.
3. To identify the challenges teachers, face
when they teach overcrowded classrooms
in public secondary school in Ilemela
Municipality.
2. METHODOLOGY
This study adopted a mixed method research
approach and a convergent parallel research
design. The use of this approach and design
made it possible for the study to simultaneous
collect both quantitative and qualitative data from
different source and then analysed them
separately and integrated the information in the
interpretation of overall results. The target
population included Municipal Secondary
Education Officer (MSEO), Quality Assurance
Officers, Heads of Schools, School teachers, and
students with total population of 34832.
Probability and non-probability sampling
techniques were employed to select the study
sample of 110 respondents including one
Municipal Secondary Education Officer, one
District Quality Assurance officer, eight Heads of
Schools, forty teachers, and sixty students. Data
were collected using structured questionnaires
administered to teachers and students and an
interview guide to the Heads of Schools,
Municipal Secondary Education Officer, and
District Quality Assurance officer. Validity and
reliability of instruments was ensured through
content validation, pilot study, member checking
and within source triangulation. Quantitative data
were analysed using descriptive statistics with
the help of SPSS version 20 and were presented
78
in Tables. Quantitative data were mainly
collected using a likert scale. A three Likert scale
with the values: Quite Adequate School
Infrastructure, Adequate School Infrastructure,
and Inadequate School Infrastructure was used
and administered to the participants. The
response from “Quite Adequate School
Infrastructure” and “Adequate School
Infrastructure” were thereafter aggregated in the
analysis in order to show positive responses
while responses under “Inadequate School
Infrastructure” showed negative responses. The
qualitative data were analysed thematically.
Ethical issues in the form of consent form,
confidentiality, honest, and anonymity were all
considered.
3. SUMMARY OF KEY FINDINGS
3.1 School Infrastructure in Public
Secondary Schools
Teaching and Learning process can be effective
if there is conducive environment. However, it
may become difficult to exercise teaching and
learning process if certain facilities are not
enough at school. To identify these facilities the
study assessed the availability of school
infrastructure in order to described it as either
falling under normal classroom size or under
overcrowded classrooms. A three Likert scale
with the values: Quite Adequate School
Infrastructure, Adequate School Infrastructure,
and Inadequate School Infrastructure was used
and administered to the participants. The
response from “Quite Adequate School
Infrastructure” and “Adequate School
Infrastructure” were thereafter aggregated in the
analysis in order to show positive responses
while responses under “Inadequate School
Infrastructure” showed negative responses.
Thereafter letters were assigned to describe the
state of school infrastructure; where Letter A =
“Quite Adequate School Infrastructure”, B =
“Adequate School Infrastructure”, and C =
“Inadequate School Infrastructure”. The
responses are presented in Table 1 and
Table 2.
Table 1 indicates that 39 student’s participants
equivalent to 73.5 percent of the participants
exposed that they were no enough School
Infrastructure in public secondary schools.
Similarly, responses from teachers in Table 2
also indicated that 27 respondents equivalent to
90 percent exposed that they were no enough
School Infrastructure in public secondary
 Likuru and Mwila; AJESS, 30(2): 75-87, 2022; Article no.AJESS.87302

schools. This finding imply that in public
secondary schools, school infrastructure like
classrooms, toilets, and libraries were still a big
challenge and this led to overcrowded
classrooms. The study by Akech [10] attest to
this fact. Akech [10] reported that majority of
public secondary schools in Tanzania lack sound
infrastructure that can facilitate the effective
teaching and learning process. School
infrastructure is important in the teaching and
learning processes’ for it ensures a conducive
environment for learning to both students and
teachers. Ojeje and Ododo [13] argues that
unattractive school buildings and overcrowded
classrooms among others contribute to poor
academic achievement in the school system;
School facilities when provided aid teaching and
learning and subsequently improve students’
academic achievement.
As maintained by Barrett et al., [14], key inputs to
the education system such as curricula,
teachers, and education infrastructure helped to
improve the quality of education. The finding
implies that stakeholders should put more efforts
in building and upgrading schools infrastructure
like classrooms. Classroom space is very
important in learning such that the students can
work to solve problems and communicate easily
and effectively. In reviewing different literature,
the situation is that, in order to have conducive
environment for learning, school’s infrastructure
is the most important aspect in education
systems.
The study also investigated the types of school
infrastructure available in area of the study. A
four Likert scales with the following levels “Quite
Adequate, Adequate, Inadequate, and Quite
Inadequate” was developed to identify types of
infrastructure available in the study area. “Quite
adequate” and “Adequate” were aggregated to
show positive responses and “Inadequate and
Quite Inadequate” to show negative responses
towards the research questions. In the analysis,
number were assigned to the levels in question
where: 1 = Quite Adequate, 2= Adequate, 3 =
Inadequate, and 4 = Quite Inadequate. Results
are presented in Table 3 and Table 4
respectively.

Table 1. Students responses on availability of school infrastructure (n = 53)

Variable A B C
Availability of School Infrastructure 3(5.7%) 11(20.8%) 39(73.5)
Source: Field Data (2021)

Table 2. Teachers responses on availability of school Infrastructure (n = 30)

Variable A B C
Availability of School Infrastructure 0(0%) 3(10%) 27(90%)
Source Field Data (2021)

Table 3. Students responses on types of school infrastructure facilities (n = 53)

Variable 1 2 3 4
Classrooms 1(1.9%) 11(20.8%) 37(69.8%) 4(7.5%)
Laboratories 21(39.6%) 18(34%) 13(24.5%) 1(1.9%)
Library 0(0%) 1(1.9%) 9(17%) 43(81.1%)
Toilets 0(0%) 2(3.8%) 39(73.6%) 12(22.6%)
Source: Field Data (2021)

Table 4. Teachers responses on types of school infrastructure facilities (n = 30)

1 1 2 3 4
Classrooms 0(0%) 8(26.7%) 22(73.3%) 0(0%)
Laboratories 6(20%) 21(70%) 2(6.7%) 1(3.3%)
Library 2(6.7%) 0(0%) 6(20%) 22(73.3%)
Toilets 0(0%) 1(3.3%) 23(76.7%) 6(20%)
Source: Field Data (2021)

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Table 3 indicates that 41 students equivalent to
77.3 percent of the respondents revealed that
classrooms were not enough in public secondary
schools by showed negative responses in the
study. Furthermore, responses from teachers in
Table 4 indicated that 22 respondents equivalent
to 73.3 percent revealed that classrooms were
not enough in public secondary schools by
showed negative responses in the study. This
further indicated that overcrowded classrooms in
public secondary schools were resulted due to
insufficient classrooms in relations to student’s
enrolment. Kabiru and Arshad [15] argue that in
examining school’s infrastructure compared to
the number of students in any secondary school,
classrooms, laboratories, and libraries should be
constructed according to the student’s ratio. This
can enable reduction of overcrowded classrooms
and favoured conducive environment for
learning. Accordingly, Mgimba & Mwila, [16]
argues that school infrastructure plays a critical
role in education in terms of resolving issues with
students' access to the educational system and
improving their performance. They argue proper
infrastructure, such as chairs, tables, desks,
lights, sanitary facilities, and internet access,
allows kids to stay and learn comfortably in
school, while instructors and other school staff
members properly do their school-related
activities.
Also according to Constructivist Learning Theory
proposed by Jean Piaget (1896 – 1980 and Levy
Vygotsky (1896 – 1934) learning is a dynamic
and active process of constructing meaning and
transforming self – constructed understanding in
interaction with environment. This imply that few
classes in public secondary schools led to
overcrowded classrooms which cannot favour
conducive learning environments, this reduce
interactions between teachers and students
during the process of teaching and learning
hence affect effective teaching.
3.2 Classroom Size in Public Secondary
Schools
The study investigated the number of student per
each streams against the education guideline.
The aim was to understand how overcrowded
classrooms is a critical problem in public
secondary schools. In order to obtain data for
this objective, questions were against the policy
guideline on classroom ratio and class size per
stream as describe by MoEST policy documents.
The following scale was used: Letter A = 40
student’s in a classroom, B = 50 – 60 students in
a classroom, and C = 60 – 80 students in a
classroom. The responses to the questions are
presented are presented in Table 5 and Table 6
respectively.
‘Table 5 indicates that 42 students equivalent to
79.2 percent revealed that education guideline
directs the public secondary school’s to
accommodates 40 students per each stream
while Table 6 indicates that 19 teachers
equivalent to 63.3 percent revealed that
education guideline directs the public secondary
schools to accommodates 40 students per each
stream. This imply that every stream in public
secondary school should contain no more than
40 students. This eliminate the problem of
overcrowded classrooms and ensure
effectiveness on teaching and learning process.
Students and teachers were further required to
identify the current number of students within the
class stream in public secondary schools. The
aim was to check to what extent the classrooms
was overcrowded, the question was also
developed to both students and teachers
with three responses A, B and C; where
A = 40 students , B = 50 – 70 students,
and C = 80 – 100 students. B and C were
aggregated to represent extent of overcrowded
classrooms.

Table 5. Students response on classroom ratio per stream according to education guideline
(n= 53)

Variable A B C
Classroom ratio according to guideline 42(79.2%) 2(3.8%) 9(17%)
Source: Researcher (2021)

Table 6. Teachers response on classroom ratio per stream according to education guideline (n
= 30)

Variable A B C
Classroom ratio according to guideline 19(63.3%) 7(23.3%) 4(13.4%)
Source: Researcher (2021)

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 Likuru and Mwila; AJESS, 30(2): 75-87, 2022; Article no.AJESS.87302

Table 7. Students Response on current number of students in each stream (n = 53)

Variable A B C
Number of students in a stream 0 (0%) 23 (43.4%) 30(56.6%)
Source: Researcher (2021)

Table 8. Teachers response on current number of students in each stream (n = 30)

Variable A B C
Number of students in a stream 0(0%) 12(40%) 18(60%)
Source: Researcher (2021)

Table 7 indicates that 53 students equivalent to
100 percent revealed that in public secondary
school each class contained 50 up to 100
students while Table 8 indicates that 30 teachers
equivalent to 100 percent agreed that in public
secondary schools each class stream contain 50
up to 100 students. UNICEF (2019) observed
that, in Tanzania pupil’s teacher’s ratio is 131:1
in public school, moreover, the average class
size is 70, students per stream in public
secondary school which is more than 2.5 times
the Sustainable Development goal target of 27 to
28 pupils per class. This finding is far from
(MoEST) guideline for School establishment and
registrations, [17] in which it directs all public and
private secondary schools to register 40 students
per each stream. And according to Bandura [11]
in Social Cognitive Theory in conducive
environments, teachers can work to improve their
student’s emotional states and to correct their
faulty self – belief and habits of thinking to
improve their academic skills and self –
regulatory practice (behaviour). The theory
revealed that overcrowded classroom does not
support conducive environment for learning to
both students and teachers.
However, this imply that in most public
secondary school, overcrowded classroom is a
problem for teaching and learning process.
Students in some of schools exceeded 100
within the class streams. Absence of school
infrastructure like classrooms, high enrolment of
pupils from primary schools to secondary schools
and few secondary schools compared to number
of primary schools was among the factor which
led to overcrowded classrooms in public
secondary schools [18-20].
3.3 Classroom Ratio According to
Education Guideline
During interview with head of sample schools the
researcher investigated that there was new
directive which direct school heads to
accommodate 50 students per each stream that
is 1:50 students, but this was not a circular, it
was unwritten (verbal directive). Heads of
schools agreed that education guideline direct all
streams in public secondary schools to have 40
up to 45 students but they had been directed to
accommodate 50 students in each stream [21-
25].
For example, one Head of school from school E
had the following to say:
The guideline from Ministry concerned with
education guide all public secondary schools to
accommodates 40 up to 45 students, but they
had been directed to accommodate 50 students
per each stream as a new guideline from Local
government (TAMISEMI) but he/she agreed that
this was unwritten (verbal guideline). (Interview
with head of school E: 3/09/2021) [26-30].
This idea differed with the one shared with
Education Officer A who quoted that:
In public secondary schools, education guideline
directed all schools to accommodate 40 students
in each stream. But the officer further argue that
this is difficult to be applied due to overcrowded
classroom in public secondary schools and
agreed that in reality most of class exceed 100
students in public secondary schools. (Interview
with education Officer A: 15/09 2021) [31-33].
The quotation indicated that, in public secondary
schools there were no classes with an average of
40 students in a single stream. This is similar to
data obtained from questionnaires which show
that there were no class with an average of 40
students in public secondary schools and the
response rate was 0 percent for both students
and teachers. Furthermore, even though the
Ministry of Education Science and technology
directed all public secondary schools to
accommodate not more than 40 students in a
single stream (URT,2020) guideline for school

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establishment and registration but due to
overcrowded classroom they introduce new
unwritten directive of 50 students per each
stream in public secondary school. This imply
that overcrowded classroom is a problem for
teaching and learning process in public
secondary school in Tanzania.
3.4 Number of Students within the Class
Stream
During this study it was noted that the number of
students in most classrooms (within a single
stream) in the selected secondary school
exceeded 80 students. Absence of school
infrastructures, high enrolments, and few public
secondary schools led to overcrowded
classrooms [34-37].
For example, Education Officer A had the
following to say about number of students within
the single stream in public secondary school:
The Ministry responsible in guiding, controlling,
and supervising education direct all public
secondary schools to enrol 40 students in a
single stream, but in reality most stream in public
secondary schools exceed 100 students and
other up to 120 students due to overcrowded
classrooms. Education Officer A further argue
that in the class most school lack teaching and
learning facilities for example table, chairs, and
desks, this led to unconducive teaching and
learning environment. (Interview with Education
Officer A: 15/09 2021).
The quotation indicates that in public secondary
schools the average classroom number within a
single stream is 90 students. This is almost 2
times the education guide line target of 40 to 45
students per stream. This is similar to UNESCO
[3] on school resources and learning
environment in Africa report that, class size is a
key factor affecting learning outcomes especially
where classes are very large and the average
class size exceeds 70 students per class in
Tanzania.
3.5 Challenges Faced by Teachers in
Teaching Overcrowded classrooms
The study also aimed at identifying the
challenges faced by teachers in teaching
overcrowded classrooms in public secondary
schools. Through structured questionnaires to
the students and teachers and interview guide to
the heads of schools and Education Officers,
Various challenges were identified. Data is
presented in Table 9 and Table 10.

Table 9. Challenges facing students in learning due to overcrowded classroom (n= 53)

Challenges Frequency Percentage

Poor interaction between students and teachers 13 24.5
Indiscipline of students during the lesson 7 13.2
Noise in the class during the lesson 19 35.8
Failure to understand the lesson 9 17
Spread of communicable diseases 5 9.4
Total 53 100
Source: Researcher (2021)

Table 10. Teachers Response on Challenges faced by teachers in teaching overcrowded

classrooms (n = 30)

Challenges Frequency Percentage

Failure to attend individual student during the lesson 4 13.3
Difficult in applying participatory teaching method. 5 16.7
Students noise 3 10
Difficult to cover the intended lesson and syllabus 2 6.7
Poor classroom management 10 33.3
Indiscipline of students 2 6.7
Failure to make proper evaluation 2 6.7
Difficult in marking student work 2 6.7
Total 30 100
Source: Researcher (2021)

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 Likuru and Mwila; AJESS, 30(2): 75-87, 2022; Article no.AJESS.87302
Table 9 and Table 10 identified various
challenges emerged due to overcrowded
classrooms including poor interaction between
students and teachers, students noise,
indiscipline of students, and spread of
communicable diseases. Furthermore, other
challenges were failure to attend individual
students during the lesson, difficult in applying
participatory teaching method, poor classroom
management and difficult to cover the intended
lesson and syllabus.
Based on the qualitative data which was
collected through interviews a number of themes
on challenges faced by teachers in teaching
overcrowded classrooms in public secondary
school were raised up. Major themes that
emerged in this research objective include:
Interference of national calendar of students
learning, Poor classroom managements,
teachers fail to identify each student need, and
Failure in applications and implementations of
competence based learning strategies.
3.5.1 Interference of national calendar of
students learning
Interviews conducted to the heads of schools
and education officers, agreed that overcrowded
classrooms affects teaching and learning
processes by interfered national calendar of
students learning due to prolonged period of
examinations.
For example, one head of school from school F
had the following to say:
Overcrowded classrooms enable the schools to
conduct examinations in shifting, for example
when form one and three conducted
examinations form two and four wait until the
examinations is over then they resume the
examinations. This is for internal examinations,
but during national examinations, non-
examinations classes are supposed to closed the
school and wait until the examinations is over,
Table 11. Students responses on solution to the challenges facing students due overcrowded
classroom (n = 53)
Solutions
To increase number of classes
Enrolment should consider high pass mark
Government should increase number of secondary school
Teacher should have remedial teaching
Total
Source: Field Data (2021)
83
this affects teaching and learning processes”.
(Interview with head of school F: 30/08/2021)
The quotations from different heads of schools
indicates that overcrowded classroom interfere
national calendar of students learning due to
prolonged period for examinations both internal
and national examinations. For example, the
calendar for study this year was 91 days for first
term and 101 days for second term, due to
examinations which are conducted in shifting
some days for learning are replaced for
examinations and learners failed to learn
effective and teachers failed to finish their
syllabus at a time. Students to conducted
examinations in shift was done in order to create
conducive environment for examinations and
learning in general. This is reflected in the Social
Cognitive Theory (1960) which holds that
learning occurs in a social context with dynamic
and reciprocal interaction of the person,
environment and behaviour. But although
conducive environment is needed as proposed
by Social Cognitive Theory but examinations
reduce the number of studying day and interfere
studying calendar.
3.6 Ways to Overcome Challenges Facing
Teachers in Teaching Overcrowded
Classroom
The fourth research objectives aimed to
investigate different ways to solve the challenges
facing teachers in teaching overcrowded
classroom. Through open end questionnaires to
students and teachers and interview guide to the
head of schools and education officers, various
solutions had been identified. Table 11 and Table
12 shows ways obtained from students and
teachers responses.
Tables 11 and 12 identifying different ways to
overcome challenges facing teachers in teaching
overcrowded classrooms, this included to
increase number of classes, government should
increase number of secondary school, class
Frequency Percentage
30 56.6
7 13.2
13 24.5
3 5.7
53 100
 Likuru and Mwila; AJESS, 30(2): 75-87, 2022; Article no.AJESS.87302
Table 12. Teachers responses on solution to the challenges facing teachers due to
overcrowded classrooms (n=30)
Solutions
The government should increase the number of secondary
Constructions of more classes
Enrolment should consider high pass mark
Class session
Total
Source: Field Data (2021)
session and enrolment should consider high
pass mark. Based on the qualitative data which
was collected through interviews a number of
themes emerged on ways to overcome
challenges facing teachers in teaching
overcrowded classroom in public secondary
schools. Major themes that emerged during the
study including, the government should build
more schools nearby existing primary school,
Constructions of more classes in order to meet
specific ratio of students per each class stream,
the government should increase the number of
secondary schools in relation to primary schools,
Students from primary schools should be
enrolled to other institutions like Vocational
Training example VETA, and Open and Distance
Learning, through Adult educations.
3.6.1 Constructions of secondary schools to
the nearby existing primary school
Interviews with the heads of schools and
education officers suggested that overcrowded
classroom is a big challenge to our society and
this can be eliminated by good government
planning on education system to our country.
The first theme mentioned by different
respondent was that the government should
construct secondary schools to the nearby
primary schools so that the students should
continue to its own school from standard one up
to form four.
For example, one education officer A had the
following to say:
The government introduced basic education from
pre-primary up to form four this led to high
enrolment of students in secondary schools. The
number of primary differed from secondary
schools this led to overcrowded classroom in our
secondary schools My suggestion is that so
longer education is basic to all children
secondary should be constructed to the nearby
primary school so that the students can be able
to study from standard one up form four on the
84
Frequency Percentage
2 6.7
12 40
13 43.3
3 10
30 100
same school and no need of standard seven
examination. (Interview with education officer A:
15/09/2021).
The quotation from education officer A imply that
the system of education favoured all children
who are able to join in education program should
go to school as the government planning. The
government and community were supposed to
construct secondary schools to nearby primary
schools to ensure the learners continue to its
own school from pre-primary to form four this can
eliminate the problem of overcrowded classroom.
3.6.2 The government should increase the
number of secondary schools in
relation to primary schools available
Second theme emerge in increasing the number
of public secondary schools in relations to
primary schools available this also argued by
different respondent during interviews, 6 heads
of schools and 1 education officer argued almost
the same ideas, in reality the number of primary
schools exceeds secondary schools to the area
of the study, this led to public secondary schools
to over enrolled the students.
3.6.3 One head of school from school E said
the following
Since the project of Secondary Education
Development plan which concentrate on
constructions of ward schools, now our
government did not increase the number of
secondary schools. Only ward schools which
constructed during SEDP I and SEDP II, the
schools remain constant and only few schools
are constructed in few areas. For example, in our
Municipality only 3 schools were constructed in
current year and one is on progress. For this
reasons the government fail to fulfil the basic
project of basic education by adding more
schools to ensure all children attained education
as the basic rights. (Interview with head of school
E: 3/09/2021)
 Likuru and Mwila; AJESS, 30(2): 75-87, 2022; Article no.AJESS.87302
In support of this theme education officer A had
the following to say:
In our Municipal there are few public secondary
schools compared to primary schools available,
statistics showed that our public secondary
schools do not exceed 30 and there are more
than 100 primary schools including public and
private schools. For this reasons the number of
students increased every year in secondary
schools, so there is a need now to plan to
increase secondary schools in our community
instead of adding classes on existing secondary
schools. This increase the burden to our
teachers and led to poor management of
schools. (Interview with education officer A:
15/09/2021).
In addition to that another head of school from
school F suggested that:
Now it is a time for our government and
community to increase school’s infrastructure in
order to solve the problem of overcrowded
classrooms. This includes the constructions of
more schools in our Municipal Council in order to
reduce the burden of large class size. For
example, in recent year our local government
divided most primary schools into two or three on
the same area, it reaches a time one secondary
schools enrolled students from 6 different
primary schools with limited school’s
infrastructures. The community and government
should plan to increase the number of secondary
schools now this probably can reduce large
number of students in our secondary schools.
(Interview with head of school F: 30/08/2021).
The quotation from heads of schools and
education officer A imply that among the reasons
for overcrowded classroom is few secondary
schools compared to primary schools available in
Ilemela Municipality. The respondent suggests to
the government to increase the number of
secondary schools compared to primary schools
available, since the projects of ward schools the
government increase only 3 public secondary
schools and one is in progress, is not yet
opened. Respondents further explained the issue
of local government to split one primary school
into two, three, or four on the same area, this
increased the burden of one secondary schools
to enrol students from more than 6 different
primary schools and caused overcrowding in
public secondary schools. In addition to that
secondary schools should be constructed to the
nearby primary schools so that the students can
85
proceed in schooling on the same area and the
same environment from pre-primary up to form
four. This can fulfil the need of basic education
by ensuring all children who are able to join the
school they get basic education. The community
surrounding the school should assist the
government through provision of materials and
man power in constructions of new school to
their area. This argument supports statistics
obtained from the Municipal Primary School
Education Officer (MPEO) showed that there
were 104 primary schools in Ilemela Municipality.
This includes 75 public primary schools and 29
private primary schools. These were compared
to only 26 public secondary schools in Ilemela
Municipality due to statistics from Municipal
Secondary Education Officer (MSEO). From the
data the number of primary schools is 4 times the
number of secondary schools available, for this
reasons there is a need to increase number of
secondary schools in order to solve the
challenges of overcrowded classrooms.
4. CONCLUSION
On the basis of the findings, this study concluded
that, overcrowded classroom affect teaching and
learning process, for it hinders effective teaching
and learning process since teachers and learners
cannot be able to have effective contacts during
the lesson. As a result of overcrowding, teachers
are an able to apply and implement competence
based learning strategies which is child centred
mode of learning. public secondary school are
overcrowded as a results of higher enrolment of
students from primary schools to secondary
school education –against a limited number of
school infrastructure especially classrooms, and
few number of secondary schools compared to
number of primary schools. Additionally, most
public secondary schools have no class have a
class size of 90 students per stream- against the
average recommended class size of 40 students
per stream. As a result teachers and students
are made to suffer during the teaching and
learning process and thus affecting the overall
teaching and learning process.
5. RECOMMENDATIONS
Based on the findings and conclusion reached by
this study, it is recommended that the
government through the Ministry of Education
Science and Technology (MoEST) and President
Office Regional Administrative and Local
Government (PO – RALG) should plan on the
ways of increasing the number of secondary
 Likuru and Mwila; AJESS, 30(2): 75-87, 2022; Article no.AJESS.87302

schools instead of adding more classes and Available:htpp:// www.investopedia.com

streams to the existing schools. This may reduce
the problem of overcrowded classroom, because
the number of secondary schools can increase in
relation to the available primary schools.
Preferably, there should be a secondary school
in between two or three primary schools. In
addition, MoEST should ensure that new schools
are well equipped before registration; they should
meet all requirement including key school
infrastructure like adequate number
classrooms, Administrative Block, Library,
enough Toilets blocks for both staff and students,
Laboratories, play grounds, Water, and Room for
first Aid. This can reduce different problems arise
due to school’s infrastructure. Furthermore,
Curriculum Implementer’s that is teachers,
Quality Assurance Officers, and Districts
Education Officers should advise system
administrators such as officials from the MoEST
and PO – RALG through their seminars and
workshops on how overcrowded classroom
affects teaching and learning process, this can
enable them to solve the problem by taking
immediate actions including adding more schools
and improvising suitable mode of selections into
secondary school education.
CONSENT
As per international standard or university
standard, respondents’ written consent has been
collected and preserved by the author(s).
ETHICAL APPROVAL
As per international standard or university
standard written ethical approval has been
collected and preserved by the author(s).
COMPETING INTERESTS
Authors have declared that no competing
interests exist.
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